10 Best Stainless Steel Rice Cooker Reviews & Ratings (2020)

This is our collection of the ten best stainless steel rice cookers this 2020. We decided to provide this roundup even if we already have a recently updated selection of the top 10 rice cookers today. That’s because many of our readers, friends, relatives and fellow home cooks, work at home moms and dads, foodies, pro chefs, and kitchen lovers requested us to focus on stainless steel rice cookers.

Well, rice cookers are a gift for your kitchen, no matter if you eat plenty of rice daily, or not. They’re very versatile, portable (depending on the size) and are quite easy to use. That’s why we designed our list of the top 10 stainless steel rice cookers this 2020 to offer unbiased, comprehensive details.

Rice cookers are so easy to use as well, and your food will stay warm for the longest time, even after it’s been cooked. These are all crafted from stainless steel, which further augments their performance and looks. And now, after receiving the results and opinions of our testers, here’s our list of the top ten best stainless steel rice cookers this 2020:

This is an unbiased list of what we consider to be the best stainless steel rice cookers for your kitchen. Nearly everyone has a rice cooker at home, and this is why the group of testers we picked for this article is very diverse — Not just people who work in a professional culinary environment, but also folks who work outside it. In the end, we had to pick out ten types of rice cookers, all coming from different brands. We also measured out the pros and cons of each of these rice cookers, so we can find out which one is the best in our opinion.

To create and rank our list, we had to consider the following: The size, price, height, weight, durability, and the materials that were used to manufacture the rice cooker.

#1 – Aroma Cuisines White Stainless Steel Rice Cooker

The Aroma Cuisines White Stainless Steel Rice Cooker is truly unique — Not just in looks, but also in function. This gives you one of the rarest chances to cook some of your favorite meals at home. All you need to do is to press a button, and that’s it! You can enjoy up to six cups of freshly-cooked rice. The product immediately switches over to the built-in “keep warm” function after the cooking is done. It’s also excellent for steaming stews and soups, or even breakfast foods like oatmeal, chia seed pudding, and porridge.

What We Like About It:

It didn’t place a huge dent on our wallets, compared to the other rice cookers on our list. It has a reasonable price and an assortment of amazing features — This rice cooker is great for those on a tight budget.

It’s got a fantastic range of features and provides amazing performance for a rice cooker of this kind. It also makes decent rice, no matter what type — Whether it be Jasmine, basmati, long-grain, etc. It can even cook other grains such as couscous and oats.

#2 – Instant Pot IP-LUX50 v2 Pressure Cooker

Electric pressure cookers are the new upgrade when it comes to cooking rice. The Instant Pot IP-LUX 50 v2 Programmable Pressure Cooker is one of the best examples out there. This is a pressure cooker that’s manufactured by a well-known producer in Canada and is designed to fit the needs of North American customers best.

This is the fastest rice cooker in our list. It can heat rice up to 6 times and can efficiently use up to 70% of its energy. Other features include three adjustable modes and ten types of built-in smart programs.

What We Like About It:

While using this, our tester managed to prepare a bowl of smooth and creamy mashed potatoes, thanks to its steamer feature. She was able to do this in less than 5 minutes. One of the huge praises that she had about this rice cooker was that it was able to cook a variety of dishes, from mashed potatoes to a delicious chili and lentil dish and some type of curry in 8 minutes. It has since gotten to a point where she’s now using the cooker every day to steam her food.

“This rice cooker is a life changer — It’s able to create plenty of recipes that can fit any diet and lifestyle,” she said. Meanwhile, another tester who used this pretty much got rid of all of his appliances, which only took up space in his small apartment. It’s safe to say that the product now has a permanent space on his counter, and he uses it to make rice dishes and oatmeal for breakfast. He’s also using this rice cooker to make some delicious pasta (which came out wonderfully when he tried it the first time).

Based on the results of our tests, there’s nothing that this rice cooker won’t be able to handle. The best part is that you won’t have to wait for several minutes, just so you’re your meals prepared.

#3 – Zojirushi NS-LAC05XT Rice Cooker

This cooker allows you to prepare good and fluffy white rice easily. You can fill it with up to 3 cups of uncooked grains. This produces 6 cups of cooked rice.

This product’s small form factor makes it perfect for couples, bachelors, and bachelorettes or those with limited kitchen space and has small families. It operates on functions formulated through “fuzzy logic” — This lets it prepare the most versatile rice dishes you can imagine, from brown and red rice to white rice, vinegared rice for sushi, and instant quick-cooking rice among other varieties.

Inside this rice cooker, you can find a thick inner-cooking pan. This gives off excellent heating, with a measuring line found alongside it. This ensures excellent control and measurement of your rice or other ingredients.

What We Like About It:

This rice cooker is amazing and helps us cook rice with ease, based on the results of our tests. We managed to cook long grain rice, plain white rice, brown rice, and even black rice, which is notoriously difficult to prepare in warmer climates. Each batch of rice came out perfectly. And the best part was that we didn’t have to monitor it while constantly cooking — All we had to do was to set and forget it. Also, its black and gray motif is sure to match the look of any kitchen.

One of our testers gave the Zojirushi NS-LAC05XT Rice Cooker a rather befitting nickname — “The Cadillac of rice cookers.” Now the bottom of the rice cooker is quite heavy and thick, allowing even heat distribution. We’re also pleased to find out that no bits of rice gets stuck to the sides and bottom of the product. Plus, all of the rice varieties we tested had the same amount of fluffiness and chewiness. It also plays a short musical tone, which alerts you when your rice has been cooked.

#4 – Cuisinart CRC-400 Stainless Steel Rice Cooker

The standard rice cooker typically sports this nice, circular shape with traditional designs drawn on it — The overall look guarantees that it belongs inside a kitchen. But what if you want to go for something a little bit contemporary and sleek? Well, this rice cooker sports a cube-shaped design, instead of the usual rounded one.

It’s crafted from stainless steel, which gives it a modern feel. But this rice cooker isn’t just about looks — It can cook delicious and fluffy rice, thanks to its brushed stainless steel rice cooker form factor, which comes with an automatic “keep warm” function.

What We Like About It:

We like that this product looks different from your standard rice cooker. Plus, many of our testers love the high-grade materials that were used to manufacture this product. We were also able to utilize its built-in steaming tray feature, which helped us steam some seafood and vegetables as our rice cooked, quickly allowing us to prepare healthy dishes and meals for breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner.

Its steam function stops the water inside the rice cooker from splattering too much. You can also hold onto the handles found at the sides of the rice cooker, which remains cool.

Some of our testers were a little bit skeptical when they first tried this product. That’s because they’ve used several rice cookers that have malfunctioned after a short while. But when they carefully read the instructions that come bundled with this product, almost all of them were surprised when the food they cooked came out perfectly and without spills or messes. They’re even able to add herbs and spices to their rice meals to give it more flavor, they said.

#5 – Aroma Housewares ARC-914SBD Stainless Steel Rice Cooker

You’re now free to enjoy cooking your favorite rice dishes in any way you like when you use this rice cooker. It lets you enjoy nothing but the best home-cooked dishes, plus the steaming feature even ensures that your meals are healthily prepared. There’s an additional function found here that lets you make easy one-pot dishes, such as pasta. So thanks to the functions equipped into this product, you now have more options for your steamed recipes and rice varieties.

It has a dual rice cooking feature. This lets you steam your food and cook rice at the same time. There’s also a nifty Flash Rice function. This significantly reduces the cooking time (by around 50%). You can even use this cooker to simmer some of your favorite recipes, ensuring richness in flavor.

What We Like About It:

The rice that we get from this cooker is just wonderful — And it doesn’t even matter what kind of rice we use, whether it’s white, red, brown or black and so on. A tester of ours tried cooking quinoa in this particular rice cooker, and it also came out in the great condition.

This product comes with a little measuring cup, which has water level marks on the inside. Many of us like this feature as it helps us make quick and easy measurements. This feature is particularly useful if you’re unfamiliar with how rice cookers work, or if you’re new when it comes to cooking rice.

#6 – Aroma Housewares Professional Stainless Steel Cooker

This particular stainless steel rice cooker is a hefty one — It’s got a spacious interior that lets you cook a minimum of 4 cups of rice and a maximum of a dozen. It also has two separate areas where you can cook rice in — One of them is for regular white rice, while the other is meant for organic types of rice, such as brown rice, purple rice, black rice, and red rice, among other varieties.

After your rice of choice has been cooked, the product will automatically switch to a feature that helps keep your rice warm, no longer requiring you to fluff it up or stir it to do this. It takes advantage of the cooking temperature to amplify your rice’s flavor and texture further. Overall, this rice cooker is perfect if you want to create healthy rice dishes.

What We Like About It:

We had to ask ourselves why it took so long for us to purchase this rice cooker. Buyers who have used this for several months already said this rice cooker is excellent and quite user-friendly.

Plus, we didn’t have any issues with regards to cleaning it — All we had to do was to rinse this rice cooker with soap and water. It also comes with its instruction book, which tells us everything we need to know for operating this product.

So far, the only dishes we have cooked on the Aroma Housewares Stainless Steel Professional Cooker include a cup of long-grain basmati rice and some oats. We have yet to use this product’s built-in feature for cooking brown rice.

Another tester of ours loved this product so much he ended up selling his previous rice cooker and buying one for his daughter for her college dorm. It was so easy for him to prepare healthy rice dishes and combine them with a bowl of veggies, which were also steamed using the same rice cooker. The other features that he loved the most were the accompanying serving spatula, the rice measuring cup, and the steaming tray.

#7 – Miracle Model ME81 Stainless Steel Rice Cooker

The Miracle Model ME81 stainless steel rice cooker can bring you tasty, fluffy rice. Just like some of the other rice cookers in our collection, you only need to press a single button to start the cooking process. There’s also an accompanying warm mode that helps keep your rice warm. It can cook up to 8 cups of uncooked grains and can produce at least 12 cups of cooked rice.

What We Like About It:

What else can we say? We were thoroughly impressed by this rice cooker. It’s simple and does the trick — No set of fancy buttons or features, no digital timers or alarms that disturb you when your food is ready. Just the basic stainless-steel rice cooker that we can use to prepare our rice.

According to some of the testers in South Korea, this is one of the best rice cookers. It’s very durable and keeps things simple, they said. Plus, they also love the material used for the cooker, which also comes from non-toxic components. This guarantees that the rice is safe to eat, they said.

A few of us purchased this rice cooker to replace our aluminum one, which started to show a bit of aging and corrosion after using it for several years. We now use this product to also make pea soup, lentil soup, fried rice, and oatmeal. Cleanup is very easy as well — All we had to do is to rinse it in warm water for over 10 minutes and wipe out residue.

#8 – OYAMA CNS-A15U Stainless Steel Rice Cooker

If you’re new to cooking or just constantly run on a tight daily schedule, then the OYAMA CNS-A15U Stainless Steel Rice Cooker is designed for you. It doesn’t matter if you want to cook rice, steam potatoes, dim sum, meat, veggies or soup — This rice cooker can do the trick.

This product is big enough to accommodate over 16 cups of cooked rice or 8 cups of uncooked grains. Other accompanying features include a stainless steel inner pot, a rice cooker, and a stainless steamer tray. It’s constructed from high-grade stainless steel, while the interior carries a non-stick and non-toxic coating. The coating lets you clean the rice cooker easily by soaking it in lukewarm water.

What We Like About It:

We love the 1-touch button on this rice cooker, which gets the cooking process done right away. Our rice stayed warm and fluffy, long after we switched the rice cooker off. However, one of the things that we had to buy alongside it was a rice strainer, so we could clean the rice before cooking. We failed to do that the first time, and as a result, our rice cooker produced a sticky and starchy crust at the bottom after we scooped all the rice out.

Some of our testers told us that they didn’t have any problems with the rice sticking to the bottom of the pan (previously, they had used an aluminum-based rice cooker, and they said it went through this kind of issue). They didn’t have to use oil to coat the inside of the product before placing the rice in — The only thing needed was the water. It works just as well as the day they first tested this product.

#9 – Maximatic EPC-808T Electric Pressure Cooker

This rice cooker lets you cook delicious meals in no time at all. It’s obvious that a lot of us want our rice to be cooked immediately — And if you happen to be one of us, then the Maximatic EPC-808T Electric Pressure Cooker is your best bet. Its main features include 13 types of pre-set cooking options, a 24-hour preset delay timer, and a user-programmable cooking capability, which all contribute to an amazing cooking experience.

There’s also a tiny vent that’s equipped into this rice cooker. It’s created to let the steam escape, so it won’t end up affecting the texture and flavor of your food.

What We Like About It:

We like this rice cooker’s amazing steel housing. We also love cooking rice through this product’s non-stick 8-quart interior. This ensures easy and quick cleanup.

The myriad of options equipped into this product can let you do plenty of things to your food. This includes re-heating white rice, brown rice, and other types of food like beef, soup, chicken, seafood, etc. And we have to say that this is one of the most versatile products in our roundup of the ten best stainless steel rice cookers this 2020.

There has been nothing but high praises for this particular rice cooker from our testers — With one even going as far as calling it “The best kitchen appliance I’ve ever used,” he said.

This isn’t just the average pressure or rice cooker, as it never disappointed us with its dozens of features. Another tester who tried this out claims that the product has re-ignited her love for cooking since she previously used to buy takeout or go to restaurants or fast-food joints all the time to eat.

#10 – Oyama C5S-F12W Stainless Steel Rice Cooker

It’s a standard stainless-steel rice cooker that has found a way into the kitchens of so many people, thanks to its versatility. Its features include a stainless-steel bowl and an accompanying stainless steel steamer tray.

Instead of using non-stick material to prevent the rice from burning, the Oyama CFS-F12W Stainless Steel Rice Cooker comes with a triple-layered bottom designed for all-around heating, without the worry of getting your rice overcooked. This particular rice cooker has been constructed for those who enjoy cooking their rice the all-natural way: Without the aid of chemicals coming from non-stick materials, which could potentially affect the taste of their food.

What We Like About It:

We enjoy using this particular stainless steel rice cooker to heat our veggies, chicken recipes, meats, and seafood. It’s got a 3-dimensional heating feature located at the base of the cooker, which goes right along the sides and the lid. Our rice remained warm and delicious long after it has been cooked. It also cooks quickly, which was a surefire winner.

Its stainless steel interior is a beauty. Cleaning this rice cooker was also quite easy — All we had to do was to soak the pan after washing it, and the rice bits that were stuck to the bottom and sides of the cooker easily came off.

This is pretty much a healthy alternative to rice cookers that use non-stick surfaces or are made from aluminum. There’s a little drip catcher feature found on the side, which releases water and steam after the rice cooks.

These are the comprehensive details that we were able to gather from our extensive research and thorough tests. Our collection of the ten best stainless steel rice cookers this 2020 might be quite helpful for many of you. But still, some are likely to need additional details to make a more informed decision. With this, we prepared a checklist of the most crucial factors to consider when searching for the most suitable stainless steel rice cooker from our selection.

Do You Need a Stainless Steel Rice Cooker?

After all, rice is one of the best, most common, and most versatile foods out there. It’s a staple of many countries and cultures around the world, just like corn and potatoes. Also, there are loads of people out there who can’t go through one day without including rice in 1, 2, or all 3 of their daily meals.

Rice even plays a primary role in some desserts. It gives people loads of energy as well as a fifth of the calories found in our bodies. But rice has to go through a long process to be cooked, and one of the final steps is putting it through a rice cooker.

A rice cooker always comes in handy. They come in so many different looks, as well as a wide variety of functions and styles. Even though a rice cooker with multiple features always means that they likely have some advantages over the competition, it could be downright confusing for the general public to decide which rice cooker is the best one for them. And it’s also very unfortunate that there are certain companies out there that are willing to trick their customers into paying hundreds of dollars for a rice cooker with only a few features. So we’re hoping that this guide helps you make the right choice.

If your goal is to regularly prepare and serve nothing but the warmest, fluffiest, most amazing rice for your guests and loved ones, then you’re recommended to grab a stainless steel rice cooker. As its name implies, this product is designed for steaming meals and cooking rice. It’s also known for its performance and pure functionality for this specialized set of purposes.

Factors to Consider for Best Stainless Steel Rice Cooker

Size & Capacity

Similar to other products, including non-kitchen tools and equipment, the size and capacity of your stainless steel rice cooker are important aspects to keep in mind. Imagine preparing, cooking, and serving rice in batches multiple times, instead of doing all these things in one go. Meanwhile, some over-estimate the rice that they need for lunch or dinner when they have a big rice cooker, even if they just need a much smaller one. Now, this is an awful waste of your time, energy, money, and of course, rice. So you’re advised to carefully consider the servings that you often need when you want to serve rice at home or for parties and dinners that you host;

Food-Grade Components

Who wouldn’t want their rice and other food to be free from contaminants like harmful chemicals, corrosive substances, and other similar elements? Well, nobody wants their food to come in contact with these things, right? That’s why you’re recommended to go with a stainless steel rice cooker that’s made out of food-grade materials. This is also the main reason why we created this list of the top 10 stainless steel rice cookers this 2020. We want to provide you with a carefully curated selection of rice cookers that won’t expose your food to corrosive substances like rust and so on. But you’re advised to choose a rice cooker from our list that’s manufactured using high-grade stainless steel;

Form Factor & Durable Components

Normally, a flimsy rice cooker doesn’t last long. Also, it might break down on you while you’re using it, which could cause more serious accidents. Imagine carrying it while it’s full of hot rice when one of its handles suddenly gives way. Plus, its form factor might not be optimized to provide you with comfortable control and safety features. So it’s in your best interest to choose a product from our collection of the ten best stainless steel rice cookers this year that’s manufactured using durable materials and integrated with a sturdy form factor design. These often last longer than others, so this can save you more time, energy and money in the long run;

Value-Added Features

Some of the stainless steel rice cookers in our list are equipped with audible alerts and notifications. Meanwhile, many are integrated with handles that stay cool even when it’s cooking rice and steaming other types of food. These might be features that you want in your stainless steel rice cooker, so keep an eye out for these things. You’ll be able to get more value from your chosen rice cooker when it’s equipped with features that you need; and

Price & Warranty

The warranty that comes bundled with a stainless steel rice cooker is often indicative of how long you can expect it to last. This is usually based on the results of the manufacturer’s thorough tests. Factor this in when you’re comparing the prices of the rice cookers in our collection that you’re interested in. You’ll be able to select the most suitable option for your exact needs and budget when you do this. Also, don’t forget to ask for freebies and other incentives like discount offers and deals. Remember, a lot of manufacturers, shops and distributors give away these promotional incentives from time to time.

Aside from using this checklist as you look closer at any product in our selection of the top 10 stainless steel rice cookers this year — You might want to read about the process that we used to finalize our roundup. Many of our friends and fellow home cooks say they use similar steps when they’re trying to pinpoint the most suitable product from our collections. So you’re recommended to learn about the same steps that we use to create our top 10 lists. And here they are:

How We Choose the Best Stainless Steel Cooker?

First, we identified the online shopping platforms that our readers, friends, relatives, and fellow pro chefs prefer to use when they’re in the market for similar kitchen appliances and products. Of course, we weren’t surprised to learn that top on their list is Amazon, which we’ve been using for many of our top 10 roundups. But we also identified a couple of other online shopping portals, just to make sure we aren’t missing anything crucial.

So we went to the best-seller lists of Amazon and these other shopping sites. Also, we took note of ratings, reviews, comments, and opinions that buyers shared for each of the top stainless steel rice cookers in those best-seller lists. We used this data to trim down our shortlist at this point to a more manageable roundup.

Second, we contacted our other peers and fellow home cooks, particularly those who have experience in using any of our shortlisted products. We asked them to share their feedback, insights, opinions, and experience in using these stainless steel rice cookers.

We carefully studied their comments and reviews. Of course, we took note of both their positive and negative remarks. We also compared their feedback against those that we collected from going through the ratings, reviews, and comments left by buyers in Amazon and the other online shopping platforms that we used for our extensive research. At the end of this process, we also managed to develop a checklist with the most important factors to consider when in the market for a suitable stainless steel rice cooker.

Third, we used the data that we have at this point to develop a set of guidelines for forming a group and asking each tester to follow particular procedures and evaluation processes. Our objective is for our testers to help us produce unbiased data from the results of their tests.

We know for a fact that this tester group needs to have a mix of foodies, pro chefs, kitchen lovers, home cooks, work at home moms, and dads. This makes it more likely for us to form a group with a range of different skill sets and relevant experience. We wanted to do this so as to ensure that the test results we’ll use to finalize our roundup of the ten best stainless steel rice cookers this year can represent real-world scenarios, which many of our readers are likely to encounter when they use the products in our roundup.

This is also why we created a particular set of testing procedures and evaluation processes. After all, our goal is to produce unbiased test results. This way, we’ll be able to provide a guide that can help many of our readers, friends, and fellow kitchen lovers in making a more informed decision as they browse through our collection.

Fourth, we analyzed all the data that we gathered at this point. We did this to rate each product and finalize the order of our top 10 roundups. We also provided comprehensive details about each product, all while ensuring that the information we’re sharing can be quickly and easily understood by our target readers, friends, and fellow cooks.

So we divided our collection of the ten best stainless steel rice cookers into easily skimmable sections. We also provided links to the pages of these products in Amazon for your reference and convenience. Plus, we showed our draft to some of our friends and fellow pro chefs, foodies, home cooks, work at home moms, and dads. This is to make some edits, corrections, and additions to the content of our guide based on their feedback.

And this is how we developed our selection of the top 10 stainless steel rice cookers this 2020. Again, you’re advised to first go through the checklist that we supplied earlier before taking a closer look at any of the products in our list that you’re interested in. Also, you’re recommended to keep in mind the steps that we follow to finalize this collection. This way, you’ll find it quicker and easier to pinpoint the most suitable stainless steel rice cooker for your exact needs and budget. Best of luck with your search!